


Will you take care of me?

by roseffect



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Chan has duchenne muscular dystrophy, Fluff and Smut, I Tried, Implied Mpreg, Kid Lee Chan | Dino, Kinda, M/M, Slow Burn, Slut Shaming, disabled child character, he's like really tired, im sorry, is it actually a happy ending tho, physiotherapist mingyu, protective mingyu, sad soonyoung, single dad soonyoung
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-05-13 13:51:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19252504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseffect/pseuds/roseffect
Summary: Single parent Soonyoung has a disabled kid and too much on his shoulders. Physiotherapist Mingyu gets hired to take care of Chan and maybe of his cute and stressed dad too.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'm Rory, just so you know this is my first ever fanfic with multiple chapters. At least the first one I actually plan to finish. Also, english it's not my first language. Any kind of feedback is welcome. I'll try to post as soon as I can.

Soonyoung woke up on the couch again, third day in a row, gladly his phone battery didn’t drain overnight and his alarm woke him up on time. He fell asleep during laundry again, holding on of Chan’s old baby shirts close to his chest. Why was he still washing baby clothes?

He put the clothes on his side and turned the alarm off, got up off the couch walking to Chan’s room who was still asleep. Soonyoung got an outfit from the closet before waking his son up dragging the wheelchair closer to the bed. Even if tired, the child was cooperative helping his dad with his morning stretches and dressing him before moving him to the wheelchair.

“Bathroom or breakfast?” Soonyoung asked the half unconscious child.

“Breakfast” muffled the kid, but Soonyoung turn on the hallway in direction to the bathroom, just in case.

After helping Chan on the bathroom, the young father started making a fast breakfast while reminding the boy to take his medication and eat all his cereal before they had to go. In the meanwhile, Soonyoung started folding laundry again while checking the mail simultaneously, medical bills, insurance, DMD parent projects, etc. If he has to take extra hours at work this week. While Chan’s finished his breakfast, Soonyoung found time to finish the laundry, charged the washing machine with another load, checked the mail, prepared Chan’s lunch and even slipped a moment to change his clothes. The small boy pushed his bowl away from him once he finished his breakfast taking the pill in front of him and downing it with water. Soonyoung’s heart ached at the sight of his six year old being used to taking pills on his own, even if he was a bit proud of his son’s responsibility.

Soonyoung guided Chan’s wheelchair outside the apartment and into the elevator, he was a bit late and was pretty sure he was forgetting about something. Once in the parking lot, Soonyoung carried him into the car and struggled once again to put the wheelchair in the trunk. His phone rang in his pocket and the twenty-four year old took it out and accepted the call.

“What do you want, Wonwoo? I’m kinda busy right now.” Soonyoung said harshly on the phone.

“Chill, Kwon. How did you even know it was me?” Wonwoo answered through the speaker.

"I might be computer dumb but I know how to read, phones have that ID thingy."

" _ID thingy_." His best friend mocked.

"Fuck off, I had two hours of sleep and I'm not in the best mood." Soonyoung connected his phone to the car via Bluetooth (with a bit of difficulty but still). "You're on speaker, say hi to Chan."

"Hi, baby Chan. Have you taken your meds already?" Wonwoo's tone changed from when he was talking to Soonyoung.

"Uncle Wonu, I'm not baby Chan anymore I take my meds by myself everyday." Chan screamed from the backseat.

"Big boy Chan then, love." Wonwoo got a laugh from the boy loud enough to brighten everyone's day. "Can you remember your dad tomorrow is Seungkwan birthday party, please?"

There was it, the thing Soonyoung had forgotten. Not only Seungkwan's birthday gift as bad as that was, but his birthday completely.

"Yes, uncle Wonu."

"Soonyoung?"

"You know I can't go. I'm really sorry but I'm flooded with bills and if I don't work tomorrow night I won't be able to pay Chan's meds. He's a priority." Soonyoung said guilty, he felt really bad he wasn’t able to go, he missed his friends a lot but he was right, Chan was a priority for millions of reasons.

“I get it. By the way, you’re running really late, Soonyoung” Was the last thing Wonwoo said before hanging the call, making Soonyoung take a quick look at the hour. 8:13 am.

 _Fuck_.

 

 

Soonyoung was really late when he got to the hospital, 17 minutes to be exact. Luckily for him, Dr. Lee was on the reception talking to a nurse and saw him rush through the hospital doors.

“Heavy morning?” Said doctor asked with a big and bright smile before squatting in front of Chan’s chair.

“Something like that.” He answered his shoulders dropping down as he relaxed a bit. Seokmin knocked fist with the child before calling a nurse and instructing him to take Chan to his appointment.

Soonyoung knew the doctor looked and smiled like and angel, but sometimes he was in fact one.

Seokmin bought Soonyoung tea in the hospital cafe and sat with him until the nurse brought Chan back to him.

“You look tired, Soonyoung.” Seokmin told him.

And he knew it was impossible to deny, the large eye bags under his eyes and his thinner structure betrayed him. He was not eating well nor sleeping enough, and everybody could see it. He met Seokmin when he first brought Chan to the hospital, his baby wasn't walking and had difficulties when crawl, Soonyoung came prepared for someone to tell him his son had some type of learning issue, not for a doctor to ask him to sit down and explain to him how his son’s muscles were deteriorating quickly and there was no cure for it. That day Soonyoung became a Duchenne parent, as if being a single parent with a healthy kid wasn't hard enough.

Seokmin told him, once again, it was okay to feel tired, stressed and mad about the situation. Soonyoung didn’t believe him, this has been his life for the last four years. Medical appointments, physiotherapy, working all night so he wouldn’t have to ask for money to his parents for medicines, getting scared to death everytime Chan laughed enough to get breathless, rushing from home to the hospital, from the hospital to school, spending every minute over his son trying to cease at least a bit of the pain he felt, all that knowing that the best picture were maybe 20 more years. He loved his son, he would do anything for him, but that didn't make the pain less real. Soonyoung just had to get used to the routine.

The ride to school was rather quiet, Chan would usually talk a lot, he wasn’t and both of them knew that meant this was a bad day. Bad days were those where the pain meds wouldn’t last that long or simply weren’t strong enough. Soonyoung spent every minute wanting to punch himself because he was so tired he could fall asleep on the wheel.

He drove to the mall and bought Seungkwan a sweater before visiting the boy and apologizing for not being able to go to his birthday party. Seungkwan loved the sweater so he forgave him. Soonyoung went back home. He had around two hours before he had to pick up Chan from school, so he took a shower and clean every inch of the apartment. When the time came, Sonyoung knew getting in the car alone wasn’t the best decision, so he knocked on his next door neighbor apartment, also known as uncle Woozi’s house.

“Jihoon, please, I need you to drive me to pick up Chan at school and maybe to the grocery store, I’m out of milk” He screamed from the hallway, his friend loved to hear him beg to he shouted ‘please’ a few more time until the short man opened the door and signaled him lets go. “Thank you so much, Jihoon, if I dare to drive in this state Chan might end up an orphan.”

“Have you considered sleeping?” Jihoon said sharply. To which Soonyoung laughed.

“Then I wouldn’t have time to work.” He said with a smile on his face.

“You’re parents are rich, Soonyoung. You could afford not working that much if you wanted.”

“Chan is my son, not my parent’s. His necessities are my responsibility.” Soonyoung said, the words were familiar on his tongue after repeating them often to Jihoon and Wonwoo.

“Channie also needs a _healthy_ dad.” Jihoon said, more serious this time. “You can’t carry everything yourself.”

Soonyoung didn’t answer, he wasn’t one to lie when the truth was thrown on his face.

 

 

Soonyoung showered Chan in silence that night, trying his best to massage and scrub yet not hurt the child limbs. Even if some things couldn’t be helped and ended up making Chan’s eyes tear a bit. He carried the child to bed and made him take his medication before tucking him in bed and kissing him good night.

Bad days confused Soonyoung the most. He couldn’t avoid wish it was just Chan growing pains instead of his muscles debilitating. 

Soonyoung walked out of the room and entered his office with a cup of coffee. Soonyoung hated black coffee, but it was the only thing that could keep him awake for at least a few more hours so he downed the bitter liquid began to work, going back to the kitchen for another cup of coffee every hour until he finished. It was 4:22 am by the time he turned off his computer, but he now had enough money to buy Chan’s meds. Still he had less than 2 hours left until his alarm rings, and also had a load of laundry to fold and put away. Going to sleep seem useless now. He could ask Wonwoo to take Chan to school tomorrow, his car was out of gas anyway. Soonyoung drank another cup of coffee and started folding clothes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small throwback to Soon's trip to parenthood.

**** Soonyoung looked at the stick once again, still the same, two lines indicating he was pregnant. What was he supposed to do now? He was too scared to call Hyunwoo, Jihoon would kill him, his parents would too. For the first time ever, Soonyoung felt lost and alone. His eyes teared up, and he forgot how to breathe for a second.

Someone knocked on the bathroom door, causing the scared boy inside of it to quickly push the pregnancy test to the bottom of the trashcan and covering it with more paper.

“Soonie?” A woman asked cautiously from the other side of the door. “Is everything okay, honey?”

Soonyoung swallow hard before opening the door. “Yeah, it’s all fine, Luda.” He said, showing the housemaid a big smile.

But Luda raised him, she knew every trick in his book. It only took her to hold Soonyoung’s face on her hands for him to breakdown. The tears gathered in his eyes finally fell down and the older woman immediately took him between his arms.

“What’s wrong?”  She asked and Soonyoung told her everything, it had always been useless to lie to her. Luda caressed his hair while he cried, she stroked his back when the feeling where too much for him that he felt like vomiting. Luda had always taken care of him and that wasn’t gonna stop then. 

Soonyoung decided not to tell his parents, at least not in the meantime. He was leaving for college the next day and it would give him some time to process all of this alone. Luda didn’t agree but after Soonyoung begged her not to expose him and promised her he was going to tell his parents at some point, she let him go. 

 

 

Unfortunately, Hyunwoo didn’t react as nice as Soonyoung expected, but maybe he was way too hopeful by Jihoon not reacting that bad. Jihoon stood silent for a few seconds, then laughed his ass of thinking it was a joke, but when he finally understood Soonyoung wasn't joking it was nice, he even offered to take him to the doctor, be there for him whenever he needed him. Soonyoung was he best friend after all, they stood together no matter what. Hyunwoo, in the other way...

“It’s not mine.” Was the first thing he said, and Soonyoung’s heart broke. “We’re not even exclusive so you can’t expect me to believe that  _ that _ is mine.”

“Hyunwoo...” Soonyoung begged.

“It’s not mine, Soonyoung. Don’t drag me into this shit with you.”

Soonyoung cried, deep inside worrying if this were the last tears he had in himself. His hand reached for Hyunwoo’s arm but the man shook it off harshly.

“You should get rid of  _ it _ , Young.” The nickname burnt Soonyoung, it was absurd to think once he considered it affectionate, it sounded cold and distant now.”Until then-”

“I won’t get an abortion, Hyunwoo.”

He wasn’t going to do it. He  _ couldn’t _ do it, it was his baby. He already made up his mind, keeping it was the only option. 

“You made your choice then.” Hyunwoo said, before storming through the front door, leaving Soonyoung for the first time.

  
  


His parents reaction weren’t good either, his mom started screaming through the phone about how Soonyoung ruined his future and everything they built for him, about him being stupid and naive and how he should let them take care of this (which basically meant letting them make an appointment at the hospital for what they called an intervention). His father didn’t say a word, the only thing Soonyoung heard of him was the door slamming behind him under his mother’s voice. He understood the disappointment he put his parents through, and it made him feel even more horrible than before.

“I’m sorry…” Soonyoung cried before hanging up. It was clear he was an embarrassment to his family, if he could even call them family anymore, they were probably too mad and disappointed to even call him their son.

He was pregnant, he needed support, he needed help. But the thing that made him need all theses things had also drove them away. And that was tearing Soonyoung appart, his plans were ruined and he didn’t know what to do next, how was he supposed to figure that out while raising a child, was he even ready to be a father?

No.

He wasn't.

He was only eighteen.

He hadn’t even experience college, or gotten drunk, he hadn’t lived. And now he had to raise a baby.

A twenty four-seven job he knew nothing about, the plants in his room at home only survived because Luda took care of them. Soonyoung was never responsible enough to remember he had to water them almost daily. How was he supposed to take care of a baby?

  
  
  


Hyunwoo contacted him a week later. He texted.

_ changed ur mind? miss ur thighs x _

Soonyoung cried himself to sleep.

  
  
  


Jihoon was force-feeding him. He had stormed into the apartment the third day Soonyoung stopped answering messages and wouldn’t pick up his calls. He hadn’t even came out since he told Hyunwoo about it. He was missing classes and considering at some point he would have to drop out of college Jihoon tried not to blame him. 

“How long has it been since you’ve eaten something? Or showered...”

Soonyoung didn’t answer, as expected, so Jihoon had to guess, and by the smell of him it was pretty clear he didn’t. He stripped Soonyoung to his underwear, he was pale, his eyes were packed with deep dark circles and heavy bags. Whatever sleep Soonyoung had, if he had at all, obviously wasn’t enough. The taller was pushed into the bathroom and forced to clean himself while the other tried to find something to cook for him. When he came out, a bit more responsive and curled in a thick robe, Jihoon sat him down at the kitchen table and spoon fed him.

“You have to take care of yourself, Soonyoung. It’s not only you now.”

Soonyoung cried again, like it was the automatic response his body had to every situation these days, just this time he was mad at himself for not considering the safety of the being inside of him. He couldn’t let Hyunwoo win, so he promised himself never give up like that again. He will always thank Jihoon for picking up the pieces of himself he let fall that day.

  
  
  


By the time his stomach was notoriously bulging out, he had dropped out of college officially, got a job in a coffee shop nearby thanks to a childhood friend he got close to recently and started an online english translation course. He finally went to the doctor, his best friend by his side like he promised. Jihoon went with him to every one of his doctor appointments, he requested tests to be done and questions to be answered, he was pushy and Soonyoung was strangely thankful for that, he didn’t even think about most of the things Jihoons asked the doctor, and that scared him. It made him realised again how unprepared he was to be a father, but he had Jihoon, who was trying to take care of them, he and his unnamed baby boy, more than his own family.

“You’re lucky the baby’s father is so straightforward and insistent, he will take good care of you.” One of the nurses said to him when Jihoon left the room to annoy the doctor with questions.

“He’s just my best friend. But yes, he’s taking good care of us I should thank him more for that.” The nurse smiled apologetic, but Soonyoung shrugged it off, Jihoon was family for him and his baby, the title of uncle would even appear once in a while during conversation, ‘Uncle Jihoon will buy him the best toy he can find’ or ‘Uncle Jihoon won’t fucking teach him how to learn a bike, Uncle Jihoon doesn’t fucking know how to ride a bike’ or so. Soonyoung found it cute, his best friend wasn’t really fond of kids but he seemed to have grown to loving one who wasn’t even born yet.

“Soon, are you ready? Need any help?” Jihoon said entering the room.

“No, let's go.” Soonyoung said, with a big smile on his face.

He really liked this family of his, even if it wasn’t the family he always dreamed of having, this was the best family he could have ever asked for.

  
  


Soonyoung hadn’t thought a name yet, 9 months had passed and he was in a hospital bed ready to bring his baby to life and he hadn't even thought of a name for him. He got a new apartment, a new job, he had a room full of clothes and toys for the baby, the unnamed baby who didn’t have a name yet, Wonwoo, suggested Chanwoo, he it was both cool and cute at the same time but he said it purely because maybe he could win over Jihoon suggesting mono-syllable names. Why was it so hard to pick a simple name for his son? He was panicking, and the nurse by him took his hand and ordered him to breathe, the pain was overwhelming, he doubted his body was built for that, his mind shut down and next thing he knew he was handed a crying baby. His baby.

The newborn stopped crying almost as soon as Soonyoung tucked him against his chest. Soonyoung took a long look at him, ugly ass a newborn is, it was the most beautiful creature Soonyoung had ever held or seen. He made that creature, from scratch. It was his blood running through his veins, his hair growing in his little head, the same buttony nose, even his eyes looked a little bit similar. Without looking away Soonyoung was handed a bottle with formula and instructed on how to feed him. And right there, with milk over his face and trying awkwardly to eat the baby looked at Soonyoung straight in the eyes. After months of getting his heart broken again and again, that simple gesture brought every piece together once again, it made all feel worth it.

“Welcome, baby Chan. I’ll tell you something, it’s just you and me against the world, but don’t worry, I’ll protect you. I always will” 

Because Chan was now the whole reason of his existence, the meaning of his life and the will of his beating heart.

  
  


Two years later, when Chan stopped walking, when he went back to crawling and would get cramps almost every day, Soonyoung didn’t expect his life to fall into pieces around him, he didn’t know how to protect baby Chan anymore.

“Duchenne muscular dystrophy.” Doctor Lee said, “It’s one of the most common types of muscular dystrophy in kids, yet it’s also one hundred percent fatal.” Doctor lee kept talking. He mentioned treatments, steroids, therapy, specialists and many other things more Soonyoung was too confused to understand.

“He had cramps, he had a few cramps on his legs and I thought I was being paranoid, that you would tell me he was having growing pains and I could breathe again. How… How does this happen?”

Soonyoung cried just as hard as the first time Chan hurt himself when he fell off the couch. Though this time, there was nothing he could do, no matter how hard he tried he could never relieve Chan’s pain, he couldn’t kiss his son wound and tell him everything was going to be okay, he himself didn’t know that for sure.

 Just like that, Soonyoung was told he would probably never see Chan turn twenty one.

“I’m sorry, Soonyoung.”

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out shorter than I planned to. This is my first time posting here so I have no idea how this works, but I hope you liked it tho.


End file.
